Cassation Court upholds 20-year jail term for man over murder of stepmother

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a September Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to 20 years in prison after convicting him of murdering his stepmother and dumping her body in a well in Irbid in April 2023. 

The court declared the defendant guilty of stabbing his stepmother with a kitchen knife while she was preparing food on April 20. 

The defendant was handed the maximum punishment for the manslaughter charge. 

The court had amended the premeditated murder charges originally pressed against the defendant by the Criminal Court prosecutor after ruling that “the murder was not committed in a premeditated fashion”. 

Court papers said the defendant’s father married the 43-year-old victim following the death of his wife in June of 2022.   

“The defendant believed that the victim had convinced his father to become more aggressive with him and to keep his name out of inheriting a building owned by his father,” court papers said. 

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, the defendant engaged in a heated argument with his father. 

Shortly afterwards, the court added, the defendant entered the kitchen and following a brief argument with the victim he “grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the victim several times in the chest”. 

After making sure the woman was dead, the court maintained, “the defendant threw her body in a well next to his father’s home and left”. 

“The defendant went to his sibling’s house and informed him that he murdered the victim, and they notified the authorities,” court transcripts maintained.  

 The defendant did not contest his verdict at a higher court.

However, the Criminal Court’s general attorney contested the ruling asking for a tougher punishment against the defendant. 

“It was clear from our investigations that the defendant plotted the murder, and, therefore, he deserves a tougher sentence,” the general attorney stated. 

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court followed the proper procedure when sentencing and the defendant deserved the verdict he received.  

 “It was clear to the court that the premeditation intention does not exist in this murder,” the higher court ruled. 

Therefore, the higher court maintained, “the Criminal Court’s decision to amend the premeditated murder charges to manslaughter was correct,” the Coury of Cassation ruled. 

The Court of Cassation judges were Mahmoud Ebtoush, Nayef Samarat, Mohammad Shreiri, Hammad Ghzawi and Mohammad Khashashneh.